Norwegian politics still male-dominated

Mari Teigen, Research Director at the Institute for Social Research, does not, however, interpret this moderate increase as an indication of an improvement in gender equality.
“Firstly, we are talking about two places only. Secondly, the gender balance is dependent on how many representatives the Conservative Party and the Progress Party get. If they do well, this actually means fewer opportunities for women,” says Teigen.

This is because the two right-wing parties do not have internal quota rules. In contrast with the other five parties, they do not organise their lists according to a quota system, in which candidates are selected alternately according to gender.
“It is paradoxical that the Norwegian parliament Stortinget has accepted a law on gender quotas for boards in the corporate sector, while at the same time the assurance of solutions to gender balance within politics continues to be voluntary within the individual parties,” Teigen points out. “It is a contradiction that autonomy within politics should be more worth protecting than autonomy within business,” she continues.

In the Nordic countries, Sweden tops the statistics with 47 per cent women in parliament. Iceland has 43 and Finland 42 per cent. Norway and Denmark come last. With a proportion of 37 per cent, Denmark has the lowest number of women in its parliament.
“I think the goal in Norwegian politics should be to reach the Swedish level and not the Danish one,” says Teigen. “The number of female members of parliament is important in order to assure the provision of a public space where gender equality is discussed. In Denmark, this space is small.”

Teigen also wants to draw attention to the composition of parliamentary committees. The important issue is not only how many women are elected into parliament: what is equally important is what positions they get in the committees.
”A gendered working order is discernible within Stortinget. During the last term of office the trend in the committees actually moved towards greater gender segregation. Men dominated the financial and defence committees, while women have been in the majority in the Committees on Family and Cultural Affairs, Justice, and Foreign Affairs,” Teigen explains. “Reversing this trend will be a challenge for the new Stortinget,” Teigen concludes.